Dani Pedrosa tops the standings on day 1 in Sepang, Marc Marquez seventh

Dani Pedrosa set the fastest time of the opening day of the Sepang test, with a mark of 1’59.427” on his 55th lap (out of 56), while Marc Marquez ended seventh overall with a best time of 2’00.290” on his 50th lap (out of 51).

In typical Malaysian fashion, the morning dawned under heavy rain, so the asphalt was still wet when the track opened at 10 a.m.

Marquez made one run on wet tyres, Pedrosa a few more, but both riders really began working on development of the RC213V after lunchtime, by which time the track had properly dried. They completed a few laps on the 2017 bike and then went out on the prototype 2018 machines, which were using different engine specifications.

Dani Pedrosa

1st1:59.427 (56 laps)

“Of course it’s good to start the testing with the fastest time, so we’re happy with that. We had some rain in the morning and therefore the chance to do a few laps on rain tyres, and we felt good from the beginning. In the afternoon, when the track dried, the asphalt kept improving lap by lap, and that was positive for the many changes we had to try. We have three bikes here, and they have the same setup but different engines. Basically, we worked on the engine package, trying to collect as much information as possible and to get a feeling with each different specification; that’s one of the main areas we have as a target for this test. There are still points we need to work on in order to understand more. We also need more laps on used tyres, as we didn’t get any long runs in today. Of course we’re still in the early stages but so far the feeling is good.”

Marc Marquez

7th2:00.290 (51 laps)

"I think today was a busy day for everybody because when you get back on your bike after the winter, you need to find the rhythm again and get used to riding at a demanding track—especially here. That said, I’m quite happy with how we started because we were working on three different bikes with different engines, one from last year and two with different specifications, and therefore it was quite an intense day. We had to adjust many, many things, which is quite normal, but so far it seems the new engine is better. Of course we have two more days to improve the setup and keep working on the engine, electronics, aerodynamics, and so on. It was just the first day and the feeling and rhythm were positive already!”

MotoGP 2018Sunday, January 28th 2018

TestingSepang Official TestMalaysia

Sepang Day 1

Mixed

Humidity

67%

Track Temp

40°C

Air Temp

32°C

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

1:59.427

2

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

0.343

3

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

0.375

4

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

Pramac Racing

Ducati

0.696

5

Miller Jack

43

AUS

Pramac Racing

Ducati

0.751

6

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

0.806

7

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

0.863

8

Zarco Johann

5

FRA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

0.994

9

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

LCR Honda

Honda

1.095

10

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1.141

11

Rins Alex

42

SPA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1.200

12

Nakagami Takaaki

30

JPN

LCR Honda

Honda

1.237

13

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

1.287

14

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

1.439

15

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

1.485

16

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

1.600

17

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

1.672

18

Morbidelli Franco

21

ITA

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

1.734

19

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

2.301

20

Guintoli Sylvain

50

FRA

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

2.437

21

Redding Scott

45

GBR

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

2.535

22

TEST 3 Yamaha

33

JPN

Yamaha Test Team

Yamaha

2.617

23

Hernandez Yonny

68

COL

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

2.626

24

Abraham Karel

17

CZE

Angel Nieto Team

Ducati

2.661

25

TEST 2 Yamaha

32

JPN

Yamaha Test Team

Yamaha

3.100

26

Simeon Xavier

10

BEL

Reale Avintia Racing

Ducati

3.519

27

Luthi Tom

12

SWI

EG 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

4.305

28

TEST 1 Yamaha

31

JPN

Yamaha Test Team

Yamaha

4.359

29

Pirro Michele

51

ITA

Mission Winnow Ducati

Ducati

5.340

30

Kallio Mika

36

FIN

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM

6.505

Gallery

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Location Information

Specifically built for speed and exciting racing, the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia is one of the world’s best. The 2,300 acre complex cost around £50m to construct and was built in just 14 months, holding its first Grand Prix in April 1999 and setting the standard for race circuits… read more.

Location Information

Specifically built for speed and exciting racing, the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia is one of the world’s best. The 2,300 acre complex cost around £50m to construct and was built in just 14 months, holding its first Grand Prix in April 1999 and setting the standard for race circuits… read more.